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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24692563">Improbable Rendezvous</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_Kloosterman/pseuds/JD_Kloosterman'>JD_Kloosterman</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steins;Gate</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Eventual Romance, F/M, Post-Canon, Post-Series, Temporary Amnesia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:35:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24692563</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_Kloosterman/pseuds/JD_Kloosterman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the last day of Kurisu's stay in Japan. She's searched everywhere for the mysterious man who saved her, but nothing has come up and now it's time to move on. But suddenly, out of nowhere...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Okabe Rintarou | Hououin Kyouma &amp; Makise Kurisu, Okabe Rintarou | Hououin Kyouma/Makise Kurisu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Improbable Rendezvous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Yes, Mother, I saw Father on the news.”  Makise Kurisu brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.  “No, I’m not going to talk to the Russian ambassador.  Why not—Mom, what would be the point?  They’re going to turn him away anyway, and without my thesis, it’s not like...” Kurisu stopped on the street corner, listening to her cell phone.  “What?  Oh.  Yes, it was mine.  Of course it was.  Well, I was going to, but now it seems...”  Kurisu sighed and looked up at the sky. “...pointless.  No, I didn’t just sigh.  Yes.  Yes I know.  I know, mom, I just...”  Kurisu closed her eyes and bit her lip.  “No, you’re right.  I know.  It’s his own fault.”</p><p>               “Right.  Bye then.”  She paused just as she was taking the phone away.  “What?  Oh...”  Kurisu blinked.  “Oh wow.  I... you’re right.  I had completely forgotten the flight was tomorrow already.  Do... do you think...”  She cast a nervous glance around the street, as if seeking for help from there.  “Would it be all right if I stayed a little longer?  I... can’t leave just yet...  just another week or...”  The reply seemed to irritate her and her face took on a sour look.  “I know, Mom!  I know, but it’s not like they found a body, and it just seems wrong to leave without finding out who that...”  The answer rather deflated her.  “Yes, I know.  It’s been over a month.  I just...”  She shook her head.  “...I don’t know how he managed to disappear like that.” </p><p>She paused, listening.  “Yes, mother.  But he did save my life.”  A faint look of exasperation.  “Yes, yes, and leave me stunned in a pool of blood.  No... No, no,  listen mother.  Nothing like that... mother?  I’m sure he didn’t do anything like that.  Well, no, I don’t KNOW, but he didn’t LOOK like a Hentai.”  She huffed a short breath.</p><p>“No, I haven’t found anything new.”  Kurisu sighed.  “No, I suppose not.  Well, they haven’t officially closed their investigation, but they haven’t sent many updates recently.  Yeah...”  Kurisu lifted her head from the phone and stared about the street, seeing the thousands of people milling about.  “...yeah, you’re probably right.  Okay.  Tomorrow, then.  Right.  Love you too, mom.” </p><p>She clicked off her phone and squinted up at the sky.  Brilliantly clear.  The last few days here in Akihabara had been very bright.  Very hot, too, but then Kurisu had spent enough time in Texas for that to mean much less to her.</p><p>The last day.  It’d sped by so fast.  She’d delayed her trip twice already, but she really hadn’t thought...  Kurisu shook her head.  No, her mother was right.  She couldn’t spend the rest of her life in a Japanese manga town trying to pay off some kind of life debt.  It was time to move on and get back to her life.</p><p>Sighing, Kurisu started to walk, without any particular direction in mind. She could go back to the hotel, she supposed.  She probably should—there was a lot to pack up and get ready.  She wasn’t even completely sure where her passport was anymore.</p><p>Ah, she could do that tonight.  Right now, she could... what?  What was she doing, now, exactly?</p><p> It wasn’t usual for her to be purposeless like this.  Makise Kurisu always had a plan, always had a purpose.  Right now, the simplest plan was: go back to the hotel, pack, get a good night’s sleep, and be sure to show up to the airport an hour or so early.</p><p>But there was an air of finality to that plan that Kurisu couldn’t quite bring herself to adopt.  She didn’t want to give up on her quest.  Not quite yet.</p><p>But what was she going to do now?  She’d checked the hospitals, the dive hotels, even the morgue.  No Hounin Kyouma.  Even a google search brought up only the name of some crazy @channeler who was posting as regularly as ever.  Kurisu had searched every possible angle and she’d come no closer to finding her rescuer.  Walking the streets was simply futile, she couldn’t expect to just bump into the man among all the thousands here.  Really, she should go to the hotel.</p><p>But for some reason, she couldn’t.  It was more than just a feeling of obligation, Kurisu felt a strange and strong NEED to find the man who saved her life, find out what he’d been doing there, how he’d managed to save her, WHY he’d risked his life to save her.</p><p>And why the hell did he look so damn familiar?  Why was that face—pale, skinny, narrow cheekbones with deep-sunken eyes and tousled black hair—sticking in her head and in dreams and in memories where it had no damn place being to the point where she was practically seeing it on people passing on the street...!</p><p>Kurisu froze. </p><p>The face.  She had seen it.  Or had she?  It was just a moment, but... that man, who’d just passed her... he....</p><p>Slowly, hesitatingly, Kurisu turned around, dreading the inevitable disappointment.  The man was probably long out of sight already.</p><p>But he wasn’t.  He was standing, stock still, a few paces from where he’d passed her, and he was staring right back at her with an equally shocked expression.</p><p>Relief, exhiliration, and something she couldn’t quite explain flooded Kurisu’s veins.  “I... I finally met you.”  She smiled, blinking back unexpected tears.</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Unstable Sustenance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Come, Assistant!—“</p><p>“—why do you keep calling me that?”</p><p>“—let us seek refuge from the Organization and fortify ourselves with suitable brain-food inside this establishment!”  Kurisu’s “Savior” swept open the door and strode grandly inside.</p><p>A somewhat-disillusioned Kurisu follwed “Hounin Kyouma.”  She wasn’t exactly sure WHAT she’d been expecting her savior to be, but a pretentious hipster pervert had not been high on the list.  She hadn’t been expecting him to choose a maid-cafe halfway across town, either, when she offered to buy him lunch.</p><p>Sighing, she followed the lab-coated madman, who was already talking earnestly with one of the cat-girl maids moving around the cafe.  Well, at least she wouldn’t feel the need to stick around anymore.  She could give him this lunch, thank him properly, and get back to her life.</p><p>“Over here, Christina!”  The man was calling, waving one long, gangly arm as he sat down at booth.</p><p>“For the last time, that’s not my name.”  Kurisu answered, sitting down primly across from him.</p><p>Kyouma just gave a wicked smile.  “You answered to it, didn’t you?”</p><p>Kurisu felt her cheeks go hot and looked away.  Why on earth had she done that, anyway?  She’d snapped at him almost immediately, involuntarily.  It wasn’t like her to get nettled so easily.  Or to respond to names she’d never heard before.</p><p>This man had her somewhat off balance, and Kurisu was not entirely sure she liked it.</p><p>She looked around to see Kyouma staring at her with an odd expression.  “What?”  She asked, irritated.</p><p>Kyouma just shook his head.  “Nothing.”  He said, the hint of a smile twisting his mouth.  “You... well, it...”  He fidgeted with his phone a moment and then put it away.  “It’s... good to see you again.”  He said, finally.</p><p>“Likewise.”  Kurisu smiled, relieved at finding some sort of sane ground at last.  “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find you.”</p><p>“Me neither.”  Kyouma nodded.  “I’d thought you’d be off to America by now.”</p><p>“I’m leaving tomorrow.”  She answered.  She noticed the crestfallen look on his face, but was distracted by a sudden realization.  “Wait.  How did you know I’d be going back to America?”</p><p>Kyouma eyed her.  “You told me.”</p><p>“I did?”  Kurisu cast her mind back on her... limited interaction with this man.  It wasn’t like her to be so open about her plans.  “I’m... pretty sure I didn’t.”</p><p>“No?”  The man’s face seemed to fall before being filled with a new light.  “Ah, but of course!  I learned it through the all-powerful, all-seeing demon’s eye, Reading Steiner, which it is my curse to bear!  It looks into your deepest secrets and exposes all your inmost fears!”</p><p>Aaaand there went the sanity.  “Really?  Tell me a secret about myself, then.”</p><p>Kyouma’s eyes suddenly narrowed.  He leaned his tall, skinny frame over the table, staring into her eyes with a strange intensity.  Kurisu, slightly uncomfortable, scooted back in her seat, but he leaned even farther forward. He was tall enough to lean over most of the small table and part of her bench.</p><p>Out of nowhere, a strange image floated into Kurisu’s mind.  <em>Hot breath warmskinwetlipshands drifting through herhairdon’tever forgetthis...</em></p><p>“Ah-HA!”  The man shouted suddenly.  “You are a @channeler!”</p><p>“Wh-what?!”  spluttered Kurisu, taken totally off-guard.  “I am not!  What kind of lame secret is that, anyway?”</p><p>“Then why are you blushing?”  The man turned his head to stare at her with one eye.</p><p>“N-none of your business!” Kurisu shouted back, trying violently to repress the reason for her blush.  <em>Where the hell had that come from... </em></p><p>“Your username is KuriGohan and Kamehanda!”</p><p><em>How on earth</em>...  “S-So what if it is?”  She huffed, crossing her arms.  “Anyway, that doesn’t prove your Reading Steinburg whatever.  That just proves you’re a creepy hacker who traced my account.”  She hadn’t considered it earlier, but now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense for her savior to be an obsessed stalker.  He’d obviously been lurking in that hallway waiting for her, he’d shown up at the lecture, he...</p><p>Kurisu frowned.  “You know,” she said, looking at the man.  “You never did explain what you were trying to tell me before the lecture.  Or why you looked so sad.”</p><p>The simple statement seemed to arrest Kyouma.  He sat back and looked at her for a long moment.  “How do you feel about time-travel?”  He asked at last, in a quiet voice much different from his earlier raging.</p><p>“Time-travel?”  Blinking, Kurisu tried to make sense of what seemed to be an abrupt topic change.  “I... well, I suppose... It’s really a broken concept.  But then, time travel is such a general term.  There are so many different sorts of ‘time-travel’ theories out there, you know, and all of them have very basic unsolvable problems.  Kerr black holes, for instance...”</p><p>“So you don’t believe time travel is possible, then.”  The man was watching her closely.</p><p>A little irritated at being interrupted in mid-lecture, Kurisu turned to glare at him.  “No.  At least not by any current models.”</p><p>The man seemed disappointed somehow.  “But you wrote a paper on it.” He pointed out.</p><p>“Yes, but...”  <em>How to explain that.  How to explain all the motivations and thoughts and</em>...  Kurisu shook her head.  She didn’t WANT to get into her reasons for writing that paper.  “There are just too many problems associated with them.”</p><p>“I see.”  Kyouma leant back in his seat with a sigh. </p><p>“Why do you ask?” Kurisu raised an eyebrow at him. <em> He’d better not try to suggest what I think he is.</em></p><p>Kyouma looked at her thoughtfully.  He was just opening his mouth when...</p><p>“Meowster and Meowstress!  Are you ready to order, nya?”</p><p>Kurisu blinked at the pink-haired catgirl who’d somehow managed to bounce (not walk, bounce) right up to the table without her noticing.  “I’m sorry?”</p><p>“Your meownu!”  The catgirl prodded a paw at the pamphlet before Kurisu.  “Have you decided what you want to eat?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, my Japanese is a little rusty sometimes.”  Kurisu tilted her head in disbelief.  “Are you inserting ‘meow’ into debatably appropriate words?”</p><p>“Nya!” grinned the girl.</p><p>Kurisu blinked.  “What kind of moronic...”</p><p>“I’ll have the Chicken Teriyaki, and Kurisu will have the Ramen cup noodle.”  Kyouma rapidly interposed, handing her the menu.</p><p>               “Ramen?”  The waitress  looked somewhat uncertain. “But... um... Feiris does not pawrpose to contradict Meowster, but... perhaps... your American friend would like something else?”</p><p>               “Ramen will be fine.”  Kurisu assured her.  “How do you know I’m American?”</p><p>               “Nya!  Your accent!  The way you pawrnounce words.”</p><p>               “Oh.”  Kurisu felt a little nonplussed at being found out so easily.  Then something else occurred to her.  She turned to Kyouma.  “How did you know I like...”</p><p> “Oh!”  The catgirl interrupted her.  “So you’re also a lab mem?”</p><p>“Eh?”  Kurisu glanced down at what the cat-girl was pointing at.  The odd pin Kyouma’d given her, which on his insistence she’d stuck to the front of her blouse.  “Oh... yes, I suppose I am.”  She glanced at Kyouma again, who simply grinned.  “Is that what this thing means?”</p><p>“Nya!” beamed the cat-girl.  “Feiris has one just like it, nya?”  She indicated her apron.  Sure enough, there was another of those strange pins.  “Feiris is lab mem 007!”</p><p>“That’s... great.”  Kurisu managed a smile.”  She turned to look at Kyouma.  “You hand these out to every girl you see, I suppose.”  She said, somewhat coldly.</p><p>“Nonsense, Assistant!”  Kyouma shook his head.  “Only eight of those pins, the secret sign of the almighty brotherhood of Future Gadget laboratories, exist in the world!  And they are destined for eight special lab mems, destined by the Steins:Gate choice!”</p><p>“Steins:Gate?”  There was that weird phrase again.</p><p>“Meowster!”  The cat-girl’s eyes opened very wide.  “Feiris forgot to say!  The Eight Kings of Pain were glimpsed atop the resonant Divergience!  The Stonehenge Implacement is at hand!”</p><p>Kurisu gaped at the maid in astonishment.  Surely EVERYONE in Japan couldn’t be crazy.</p><p>“The Implacement, you say?” Kyouma tapped his chin in deep thought.  “That could be trouble.  I shall have to prepare the Dark Symphonic Converter.  Make a note of that, Assistant!”</p><p>Kurisu would have gotten up right then, if she hadn’t caught the wink from the cat-maid.  Suddenly things fell into place.  This was not a band of crazy maniacs, this was one crazy maniac and his feline enabler, who played along to get bigger tips.  Part of her felt a little disgusted, the other part felt a strange sort of admiration for the girl.</p><p>For the moment, it was enough to convince her to remain seated.  She could not help pointing out, though, that: “There’s no such thing as a ‘Dark Symphonic Converter.’”  Kurisu could tolerate a fair amount of insanity, but she drew the line at bad science.</p><p>“So you say now, Assistant!”  Kyouma tilted his chin victoriously.  “But you shall say differently when you see our laboratory!”</p><p>“Laboratory?”  Kurisu blinked.</p><p>“Meowster!?”  Feiris stared at the lanky hipster.  “You’re allowing her to see the laboratory?  What if she is one of the Nineteen?  She could expose the Converter to contamination!”</p><p>For a moment, and it was only a moment, Kurisu saw annoyance flicker in Kyouma’s eyes.  But as he turned to look at Feiris, he was suddenly all smiles again.  “But of course!  She is my assistant!  It is Stein’s::Gate Choice!  It would be strange if she was not shown the laboratory!”  Turning on Kurisu, he announced: “You shall be shown every facet of our operation, Christina!  Future Gadget laboratories will be laid bare!  Only you must swear a blood oath not to speak of anything that you see there!”</p><p>Kurisu groaned and slumped deeper in her seat.  It seemed paying back her savior would be more... complicated than she had anticipated.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The story was originally intended to be a one-shot, but I expanded it after the first chapter was so successful on FF. net.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Reading Steiner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I... really don’t think this is on the way to your lab.” Kurisu grumbled.</p><p>               “Really?”  Kyouma looked at her.  “And how would you know?  Have you been there before?”</p><p>               “...No.”  Kurisu admitted with a sigh.  “Just call it a feeling.  Anyway, why did we have to walk?  Couldn’t we have taken the train?”</p><p>               “No, foolish Assistant!  Trains are tools of the Organization!  Assassins lurk within every train station, waiting to trap the faithful!  Besides, walking is good for exercise.”</p><p>               “Easy for you to say,” answered Kurisu, struggling to match the long-legged man’s pace.  “Look. it’s just I rather this didn’t take too long.  I need to get back in time to pack.”</p><p>               There was a short pause.  “...pack.  Of course.  For your flight.”  Kyouma’s tone seemed odd somehow, but when she looked at him, his face looked utterly normal.  “What time does your flight leave, did you say?”</p><p>               “I didn’t say, and not only that, it would highly improper of me TO say.”  Kurisu snapped, stopping short.  “Not to mention rude of you to ask.  Why don’t you find out with your Reading Steiner thing?”</p><p>               “You mock me, Assistant!  More, you mock the power of Reading Steiner.”  Kyouma looked grave.  “It is not to be used for such trivial matters as ascertaining a subordinate’s travel plans.”</p><p>               “First of all, and for the last time, I’m not your subordinate.  Never was, never will be.”  Kurisu raised a finger.  “Second of all...” she raised another finger.  “...how is Reading Steiner too important for my travel plans, but not too important for my internet history?”</p><p>               The question seemed to catch Kyouma off-guard, and Kurisu caught herself smiling victoriously.  Though she didn’t want to admit it, that @channel discovery had rattled her badly, and she was desperately curious as to how this pretentious hipster had actually found it out.  He was hiding something, she was certain.</p><p>               Kyouma quickly regained his composure.  “Because,  my dear Christina—“</p><p>               “—third of all, that’s not my name—“</p><p>               “—because while your history is set in stone, your future is not.”  He leaned forward and smiled gently, flustering Kurisu most inexplicably.  “But if I had to guess, I would say that in your future, you will not take that flight.”</p><p>               “I most certainly will.”  Kurisu snapped, fighting down an irrational flash of terror.  That hadn’t been a threat.  Probably.</p><p>               “We shall see, shall we not?”  Kyouma grinned.  “Come!”  He raised himself erect and pointed down the road.  “The first destination on our journey of destiny awaits!”</p><p>               Kurisu groaned and followed after.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>               “So... you’re not a girl.”</p><p>               Ruka seemed embarrassed.  “N-no.”  He admitted softly.</p><p>               “Ah-heh.”  Kurisu had the grace to look embarrassed.  “Sorry, it’s just...”  She coughed.  “So... you and Kyouma... you’re not...”</p><p>               Ruka’s eyes widened.  “N-n-n-no!  Of course not!  That would be wrong!  It would be...”  He spluttered for words.  “N-no.  Sensei is my sensei.  Nothing more.”</p><p>               Kurisu followed his adoring gaze to Kyouma’s distant form, standing at the entrance to the shrine and talking animatedly into his phone.  She had to wonder.  Not about anything going on—she believed that part.  But something about Ruka’s expression rather belied his apparent disgust.</p><p>               “Why do you ask?”  Ruka questioned unexpectedly.</p><p>               “Huh?  Oh, ah... just wondering.”  Kurisu mentally kicked herself.  “So sensei schools you in... what, exactly?”</p><p>               “Oh, all sorts of things!”  Ruka’s face lit up.  “How to pass coded messages, how to exorcise demons... mostly, we practice with wind-slayer, the sword of a thousand faces!”</p><p>               “Really.”  Kurisu was divided as whether to blame Kyouma’s delusions on his friends, or his friends’ delusions on Kyouma.  She supposed it was a vicious cycle of some sort.  “Lab work too?”  She asked.</p><p>               “Oh no!”  Ruka’s face was wide again, this time with wonder.  “I am not worthy to be versed in the exalted secrets of the Future Gadget Laboratories!”</p><p>               Kurisu frowned.  “But you’re a lab mem...”  She indicated the golden pin affixed to the boy (?)’s gown.  “...aren’t you?”</p><p>               “Oh yes!”  Ruka flushed, fingering the badge with obvious affection.  “But that is only through the extraordinary generosity of sensei!  I have never worked in the lab, but he came by today and gave me this, saying that I was an eternal comrade of the lab.”  A smile of pure joy glimmered across the boy’s face.  “I shall never forget it.”</p><p>               “Heh.”  A smile graced Kurisu’s lips.  The “boy” looked so sweet, smiling like that.  Obviously the poor child was shy... he’d probably been teased relentlessly growing up.  His father dressing him in girl’s clothes all the time couldn’t help.  Kyouma was probably one of his few friends...</p><p>               Ruka shifted uncomfortably.  “U-u-um... wh-why... why are you st-staring at me?”</p><p>               “Huh?”  Kurisu blinked.  “Oh, um, no reason.”</p><p>               But Ruka didn’t seem to believe her.  “I’m strange, I know.”  He answered, hanging his head.</p><p>               “No, no, that’s not it...”</p><p>               And suddenly Kurisu realized how completely “not it” that was.  It was not that Ruka was strange, it was, in fact, that Ruka was not strange enough.  For some reason this felt perfectly natural and expected, this girl-who-was-a-boy-with-a-crush-on-another-boy-but-in-denial.  She wasn’t shocked by any of this, only... slightly bemused.</p><p>               To put it simply, Ruka seemed oddly... familiar.</p><p>               “...that’s... not it at all.”  Kurisu wrenched her thoughts back to the moment with an effort.  “It... don’t worry about it, okay?  It doesn’t matter.”</p><p>               That evoked a smile.  “That’s what sensei said.”  Ruka answered, looking over again at Kyouma.  “When we first met.  He said, ‘it doesn’t matter.’”</p><p>               “Really.”  Kurisu felt a tiny warming of her heart for Kyouma.  Sure, perhaps the man was crazy, but he’d taken this poor bishi under his wing.</p><p>               “He’s wrong.”  Ruka said abruptly, his face suddenly hopelessly sad.</p><p>               “Wh-what?”  Kurisu was taken by surprise and looked at him askance.  “No, that sort of thing doesn’t matter at...”</p><p>               “Yes, it does.”  Ruka answered, closing his eyes.  “If I was a girl, it would matter to sensei.”</p><p>               “It would... oh.”  Feeling dangerously embarrassed by the line of conversation, she shrugged her shoulders.  “Y-you don’t know that.”</p><p>               “Yes, I do.”  Ruka answered.  He turned away.  “If I was a girl... maybe he’d look at me like he’s looking at you.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>               “...look, just whip something up, okay?  I don’t care what, just... nothing with microwaves!”  Kyouma threw her an anxious look as she approached.  “Okaygottagobye!”</p><p>               “What was that about microwaves?”  Kurisu frowned.</p><p>               “Nothing important!”  Kyouma insisted, folding up his phone and stowing it in his voluminous labcoat.  “Just ordering the other lab mems to prepare the laboratory for your arrival.”  He looked at her.  “Did you have a nice visit with Ruka-chan?”</p><p>               “Oh yes.”  Kurisu threw a look over her shoulder at the boy sweeping the steps of the shrine.  “Er... has he ever been to the States?”</p><p>               “Oh no.”  Kyouma shook his head.  “He and his father have always been here to tend the shrine.”  A curious light entered his eyes.  “Why do you ask?”</p><p>               “No reason.”  Kurisu shrugged.  But her eyes were still studying the boy.  <em>What was so irresistably familiar about him?</em></p><p>               “Come, Assistant!”  Kyouma once again struck a pose.  “Future Gadget laboratories awaits!”</p><p>               “Yay.”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>               “Okay, that shrine was <em>definitely</em> not on the way.”  Kurisu gasped, half-an-hour later, as she and Kyouma sat, exhausted, on a handy bench.  “Why did we go there again?”</p><p>               “To see Ruka-chan!”  Kyouma managed to pant.  “And to throw off the agents of the Organization!”</p><p>               Kurisu looked at him, puzzled.  “Won’t that just lead them to Ruka and put her in danger?”</p><p>               Kyouma appeared stumped by that one. “Eh...  Well... they won’t.... the sword of... of... ahh, it doesn’t matter.”  He shrugged.  “Ruka can handle herself.  Himself.”  He corrected.</p><p>               “What...”  Kurisu stared at him.  This sudden apathy appeared very unusual.</p><p>               “Come!”  He stood with a little burst of energy.  “It is not far.”</p><p>               “You said that half-an-hour ago...”  Kurisu groaned, standing nonetheless.  “Why can’t we simply take the subway?”</p><p>               “Too many agents of the Organization!  Now come!”</p><p>               Kurisu clenched her teeth and followed the madman.  “He saved your life, he saved your life, he saved your life...”  She repeated to herself.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a quick note here, I've decided to start work on getting an original work of mine published.  More details to come later.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Hyperbolic Ephiphany</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Behold!  Future Gadget Laboratories!”</p><p>               “A Cathode Ray Tube shop?”</p><p>               “What?”  Kyouma glanced at her in surprise.  “No!  It’s... No, see, it’s upstairs.  The television store is run by the guy who owns the place.  We rent from him.”</p><p>               “I see.”  On one level, Kurisu felt she should probably be disappointed about how... un-impressive the much-vaunted Future Gadget Laboratories looked.  It wasn’t even two stories high, and the building was in terrible repair.</p><p>               She should be disappointed, after spending so much time and effort to reach it, but amazingly enough, she wasn’t.  Rather, she was caught up in a beautiful feeling of joyous euphoria as she stared at the rickety, outmoded, ugly little deathtrap.</p><p>               <em>What is wrong with me?</em></p><p>               “Ah!  And there is mister Braun!”  Kyouma waved wildly.  “Good evening, Mr. Bruan!”</p><p>               A burly man was just exiting the CRT store, followed closely by a small girl and a....</p><p>               <em>...bang a pop of red and purple on a white shirtfront like a doll with strings cut years of torture...</em></p><p>               Kurisu actually stopped short at the sudden wave of hostility she felt as the curly-haired blonde behind “Mr. Braun” came into view.  The pale skin, the subdued body language, the black glasses, the pink-and-purple phone pressed into her hand...  All of these filled Kurisu with a wave of almost violent animosity.  And...  fear, she realized.</p><p>               “Kurisu?”</p><p>               She came out of her reflections with a start.  Kyouma was studying her with a questioning... no, an inquisitive... no, a curious look.  Almost... oddly hungry.</p><p>               “Are you alright?”  He asked, and she found herself surprised by the tenderness in his voice. </p><p>               “I’m fine.”  She managed.  “Just... um... why don’t you introduce me to them?”</p><p>               “Of course!”  Kyouma took her by the hand, and Kurisu followed, struggling to master her irrational feelings.</p><p>               “Mister Braun!”  Kyouma announced loudly as they approached the group.  “I must present to you FGL’s newest lab mem, Christina, my assistant!”</p><p>               She closed her eyes.  “My name is Makise Kurisu.”  She said, offering the man a polite smile. </p><p>               “Pleased to meet you.”  The man’s easy smile relieved a lot of the unease generated by his massive bulk.  “But, eh, why’re you hanging out with this loser?”  He jerked his head at Kyouma.</p><p>               Kurisu’s smile grew wider, relieved at finally finding someone who seemed relatively sane.  “Kyouma-san helped me with something.”  She answered.  “Now I’m helping him.”</p><p>               “Good luck with that.  He needs it.”  Mr. Braun half turned as his daughter hid behind him.  “Ah, you’ll have to forgive my daughter, she’s a little shy.”</p><p>               “Quite understandable.”  Kurisu shook her head.  Actually the small girl creeped her out a little, though again, she could not have said why.  It seemed to be her day for irrational judgments of people.</p><p>               “Well, this is MY assistant.”  Mr. Braun gestured to the blonde, who looked up in surprise at his motion.  “Moeka just started here, but so far she’s fit in like one of the family.  A sight more useful than this lazy ass.”  He glared at Kyouma.</p><p>               Kurisu hoped her smile was not too forced.  “Good to meet you also.”  She said, extending her hand to the girl.</p><p>               Moeka did not answer right away, she was looking at Kurisu with a far-off expression, and when she noticed the hand she shied away just a little, but then she shook it.  “G-good to m-meet you.”  She replied, brow furrowed.</p><p>               Kurisu’s heart was pounding, and she could feel her teeth clenching a little, but even through all that, her brain was sufficiently engaged to realize one thing.</p><p>               Moeka was trying to remember her.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>               “Why were you glaring at Moeka like that?”  Kyouma asked her, as they climbed the stairs.</p><p>               “I...”  Kurisu tried to come up with an answer.  “I don’t know!  I just... didn’t like her, for some reason.  And the shopkeeper and the little girl are sort of creepy too.”</p><p>               “Nonesense!”  Kyouma chortled.  “Besides, Moeka is a lab mem also, so you will need to get along with her for your work here.”</p><p>               “I’m not working for you, okay?”  There was a limit even to helping people who’d saved your life.</p><p>“Welcome!”  Ignoring her, Kyouma gestured grandiosely as they stepped into the room.  “—to the home of Future Gadget UAWAAAH!”  The “mad scientist” was suddenly side-swiped by a girl in a blue lacy dress.</p><p>               “Okarin!” chirped the girl happily, clinging to Kyouma.  “You’re back!  Mayushii was so worried, she went all the way to the hospital and you had already been discharged and then she came back here but Daru-kun said...”</p><p>               “Mayuri!” hissed the ‘mad scientist,’ hurriedly disentangling himself from the girl’s grip.  “Can’t you read the atmosphere?”</p><p>               “Huh?”  Mayuri blinked at him innocently.</p><p>               Kurisu blinked at the two, taken aback.  She couldn’t speak.</p><p>               <em>Why... why does...</em></p><p>               Kurisu realized her mouth was tilting upwards.  It was amusing, of course, and strangely heartwarming... suddenly Kurisu could see there was a whole other side to this Kyouma.  There were plenty of reasons for her to smile at the exasperated male and the clueless girl.  But none of them were the cause of the strange warmness filling her breast.</p><p>               It felt... so familiar.  So right.</p><p>               “Eh?”  Mayuri looked away from Kyouma’s tirade, straight into Kurisu’s eyes.  Again, Kurisu felt a strange stab of familiarity at the expression of puzzlement.  “Okarin, who is Okarin’s friend?”</p><p>               Kyouma sighed.  “This is lab mem 004.”  He stated impressively, gesturing.  “My Assistant, Christina.”</p><p>               The odd feeling was drowned by a fresh wave of annoyance.  “For the last time--!”</p><p>               “Uwah!?  Another female lab mem!?”  Mayuri’s face lit up.  She leapt forward and caught Kurisu in a hug, knocking her a few feet back.  “Welcome, Kurisu-san!”</p><p>               “Uh... hi.” Kurisu awkwardly patted the girl’s head.  <em>This... this feels so... familiar.</em></p><p>A heavyset man at a cluttered desk had turned to look at them. “Whoah.  Really? Makise Kurisu?”</p><p>Kurisu felt a wave of relief.  Finally, someone sane in this world. </p><p>“You know her?”  Kyouma asked.  Kurisu noticed that his voice sounded curiously eager.</p><p>“She had her thesis published in Science magazine,” nodded the man, eyes wide.  “Jeez, Okabe, when you said you that pin was for our fourth lab mem, I didn’t think you’d get a REAL lab mem.”</p><p>Kurisu felt that she and this man were going to get along fine. </p><p>“...not to mention one with such a hot-ass bod.”</p><p>Kurisu frowned.  Or not.</p><p>The man started to giggle as he stared at her and Mayuri.  “Oooh.  Major yuri flags, bro.”</p><p>“Not now.”  Apparently the pretentious hipster didn’t appreciate his friend’s comments any more than she did.</p><p>“You’re such a spoilsport, Okabe.”  The man grumbled, turning back to his computer.</p><p>“And you’re a pervert,” grumbled Kurisu, disentangling herself from Mayuri’s embrace.  Then she realized what the man had called the hipster.  “Wait.”  She turned.  “Your name’s Okabe?  Not Hounin Kyouma?”</p><p>For some reason, she expected the skinny “scientist” to flinch, but instead, he grinned broadly.</p><p>“Oh, my WORD, you are an IMBECILE!”  Kurisu exploded.  “Do you know how many hospitals and police records I went through looking for the name Hounin Kyouma?  How many times the police asked me if I was SURE I got your name right?  How...”  Words failed her momentarily.</p><p>“Hounin Kyouma is my true name!”  The man jutted his chin out, still grinning.  “Know it well, for it is the name at which the ruling structures of the world shall topple and fall!”</p><p>“He does that.”  The heavyset man answered.  “Pretentious hipster bullshit.”</p><p>“Well what is his REAL name?”  Kurisu directed her question to the hacker, feeling it would be useless to ask Kyou—Okabe.</p><p>“Do not tell her!”  Insisted the pretentious hipster, rounding on his friend.  “It is vital that we retain the secret of...”</p><p>“Okabe Rintarou.”</p><p>“Gaah!”</p><p>Kurisu smiled victoriously.  “Thank you, Daru.”</p><p>“Okarin is Okarin.”  Mayushii smiled, oblivious to the lanky man’s ravings.</p><p>Okabe Rintarou... Okarin.  Kurisu could see how that would work.  This Mayushii seemed a little childish, but very sweet.</p><p>“Wait, wait.”  The heavyset student interrupted them.  “How... how’d you know my name was Daru?”</p><p>Kurisu blinked at him.  “What?  I... That’s your name?”</p><p>“Yes that’s my name!  You called me it just now!”  Daru accused. </p><p>“That’s ridiculous, I...”  But she had, Kurisu remembered.  Just a few seconds ago.</p><p>
  <em>What is going on with me?</em>
</p><p>“You must never reveal Daru’s identity!”  Okabe insisted.  “He is our laboratory’s secret weapon, our ‘supah hackah!’</p><p>Daru frowned in annoyance at his friend.  “Hack-“</p><p>“-er.”  Kurisu finished, her mind in a whirl. </p><p>“See?  She says it properly!”  Daru, oblivious to her ponderings, gestured angrily.  “Now is that so hard?”  He shook his head in exasperation.  “I’m starting to like this new lab mem better than you, Okabe!”</p><p>“Uwaah?”  Okabe’s lank face drooped in sudden dismay.  “Daru!  My right-hand man!  My secret weapon and foremost comrade!  Do not be swayed by the powers of seduction so easily!”</p><p>“Se—How DARE you!”  Kurisu’s face flamed with the implication.</p><p>Okabe must have seen something in her eye that hit home, for he quickly laughed and attempted to cover up his flub.  “Suppose we show you around the laboratory.”  He said hurriedly, motioning her towards the back of the room, where a makeshift curtain concealed the remainder of the room.  “This...”  he said, grandiosely indicating the current space, “...is the Chamber of Apocalyptic Meditation!”</p><p>“It’s a break room.”  Daru said.</p><p>“Not entirely!”  Okabe insisted, rounding on his friend.  “We have meetings here too!”</p><p>“Dude, when have we had a meeting here?” Daru wrinkled his face in confusion.</p><p>               “All the time!”</p><p>“We’ve never had a meeting. “</p><p>‘Mayushii remembers us having a meeting.”  The girl piped up.  Then her face clouded.  “At least... Mayushii thinks so...”</p><p>“It’s just the three of us here, why would we bother having a meeting?”</p><p>“Ah, forget it.”  Okabe shrugged in exasperation.  “Let’s just move on to the...”  he swept the curtain aside  “...Enigmatic Lair of Illuminating Geniusity!”</p><p>“Okay, we’ve never called it that before.”  Daru looked at his friend in total disbelief.  “Seriously, what is with you?  You’re worse than ever today.”</p><p>For once, Kurisu didn’t bother to join in.  The Enigmatic Lair of Illuminating Geniusity did not look like a particularly great lab, workshop, or even apartment.  There was a fragile wooden table with one single computer on it, all surrounded by cluttered, leaning shelves that were showered dust through the dim light.</p><p>And yet, again, there was something powerfully familiar about it.  Something about the scent.</p><p>“Behold!”  Okabe swept past her, indicating a particular shelf that was piled high with a stack of CRT televisions.  “Future Gadget #7!   Active Shell Opto Camouflage Ball!”  He started to fumble with the switches in the back.  “We have CC cameras, you see, and they feed into these televisions to...”</p><p>“Opto-cam? Like in Ghost in the Squad?”  Kurisu quirked her eyebrow.  “Seems too bulky to be of any use.”</p><p>“Stupid idea to open with that anyway.”  Daru grunted, throwing his disappointed friend a look.  “Here, Kurisu-chan...”</p><p>“Don’t call me that.”</p><p>“...here’s something you should find interesting.”  Daru proffered an outdated vacuum cleaner.  “Future Gadget # 5.  It takes the waste heat, see, and converts into a blow drier...”</p><p>“That is way too messy, way too clunky, and...”  Kurisu took a look over the device, “...looks highly inefficient.  How much electricity does it use?”  Glancing from one silent man to the other, Kurisu shook her head.   “Honestly.  5 and 7, huh?  What else do you genius scientists have?  Where’s your future gadget #6?”</p><p>“Er...”  For some reason both Daru and Okabe glanced toward an empty corner of the lab.</p><p>Something on the opposite shelf caught Kurisu’s eye.  “Is that...”  She moved forward and picked the item up off the shelf.  “What... what is this?”  She asked, turning.</p><p>“Oooh!”  Daru’s face lit up.  “That’s Future Gadget 2!  It...”</p><p>Okabe interrupted him.  “Why don’t you tell us, Ms. Great Scientist?”</p><p>Unaccountably nettled, Kurisu glared back at him.  “Okay, I can see it’s a plain bamboo copter.  What I DON’T see is why you think this is some super-special future gadget.”</p><p>“Then why did you bother to pick it up?”</p><p>It struck Kurisu that Okabe was watching her strangely closely, like he had when she’d met Moeka, almost like he was looking for something.  But she abandoned that question in favor of the more immediate one.  Why HAD she picked up the bamboo copter?  There was nothing remarkable about it, it could have been a bit of random trash sitting around the lab. </p><p>Turning it over, she studied it more carefully.  Light glinted off something at the base... a lens.  Squinting in the gloom of the lab, Kurisu made out a tiny CCD camera affixed to the base.</p><p>“A spy camera?  Attached to a bamboo copter?  Really?”  She said aloud.</p><p>“Ah-HA!”  Okabe grinned triumphantly.  “Future Gadget 2: Bamboo Copter Camera!”</p><p>“Alternative edition 2.67.” Daru added.</p><p>“This... this is...”  Kurisu turned it over in her hands <em>...strangely familiar...</em> “...absolutely useless.”  She said aloud.  “It’d never be able to fly high or far enough to get any images outside of your own range, and there’s no wireless transmitter attached... you’d have to retrieve the video manually.”</p><p>“It’s a prototype.”  Daru answered defensively.</p><p>“I told you we should have sprung for the remote-controlled copter.”  Okabe shot the man a glance.</p><p>“We don’t make enough money for that, dur.”  She heard Daru answer.  “Or well, Mayushii doesn’t...”</p><p>“Mayushii misses copter-chan...”</p><p>“No matter.”  Okabe plucked the copter from her hands and fiddled with the camera a little.  “It is merely a test proof, a concept.  And, as a tool to defend from the Organization, invaluable in our crusade of destruction.  Learn their use, Assistant!  Some day your life might depend on one!” </p><p>He gave the copter a twirl and sent it flying at her.  Shrieking a little, Kurisu recoiled and snatched it just before it hit her face.</p><p>
  <em>...not dying just leaving to another world Mayushii’s cute face against the floor with a pop of blood across her white dress can’t save both time to go now oh god i love him go back tell him nowNOW...!</em>
</p><p>“...Kurisu-san?”</p><p>Mayushii’s face was blinking up at her anxiously.  “Are you all right?”</p><p>“I’m... I’m fine...”  Kurisu managed, feeling her head.  She had a hazy sensation of... something.  Love?  Sorrow?  Yes, sorrow, definitely, when she looked down at Mayushii’s a strange feeling of utter sadness and loss washed over her.  Unable to quite help herself, she reached out and tentatively touched Mayushii’s forehead.</p><p>“Uwaah...”  Mayushii crossed her eyes to look up at her hand.  “Are you sure you’re all right, Kurisu-san?”</p><p>“...ah... yes.”  Kurisu hurriedly withdrew her hand.  Turning away in embarrassment, she caught again the curious look in Okabe’s eyes. Had he known, somehow, that the bamboo copter would do.... that to her?  Impossible.  How could he?</p><p>Okabe must have noticed her intenser-than usual stare.  “Ah!  Daru!  Didn’t you just start that new and incredibly-fascinating series of experiments I told you about?  You know, the ones that have NOTHING TO DO WITH MICROWAVES.”</p><p>“Oh!”  Daru had apparently seen the same look.  “Right!  Those!  They’re... um...”  He scratched his head.  “Well...  we’re... currently working on... this.”  He proffered  the strange bits of wire sitting next to him.  “It’s a sort of... initial design for... a brain-wave scanner, you understand.”</p><p>Kurisu rolled her eyes, the copter momentarily forgotten.  “Those exist already.  CAT?  MRI’s?  Any of these ringing a bell?”</p><p>“Yes, but this is different.”  Daru held up a finger.  “I had this... idea, see... came out of nowhere...”  A puzzled look came over his face.  “...like, really out of nowhere, usually we get ideas from animes and what-not...”</p><p>“Daru!”  Okabe hissed, face red.</p><p>“...anyway, I just got this idea after Okabe called earlier.”  Daru looked at the device with pride.  “It’s Future Gadget No. 8 v.1”</p><p>“That’s a terrible name.”  Okabe frowned.  “Let’s call it the Perseus Mantle of the Inner Eye!”</p><p>“Dude, you don’t even know what it does!”  Daru rounded on him.</p><p>“It’s still a better name than FG No 8 v.1!”</p><p>“What does it do?”  Kurisu interposed before the argument could devolve into a fight.</p><p>Daru sighed.  “It... well, nothing yet.  It’s just a heap of wire.  But I was thinking it might be possible to make a device that could... read memories?  And then transfer them to...”  He shrugged. “Honestly hadn’t gotten that far yet.  Another mind, I guess.”</p><p>Kurisu shook her head in disbelief.  “That’s... that’s...”  A thought occurred and she paused.  “...that’s...  were you planning on mapping the hippocampus with electrical impulses or creating a library to compare the brain waves to?”</p><p>“Er...”  Daru and Okabe exchanged glances.</p><p>“The electrical impulses would make better sense, but there’s no guarantee that whatever you transferred them to would be able to translate them properly.”  Kurisu frowned as something obvious occured to her.  “And how would you transfer them to another mind?  I mean, we don’t exactly have the equipment to implant thoughts in someone...”</p><p>“How about a cell phone?”  Okabe answered.  The curious look was in his eyes again, but Kurisu was too excited to notice.</p><p>“What... don’t be ridiculous.  How would that get to the brain?  Some sort of sonic impulse, or a electric shock or... let me see that.”  Kurisu stepped forward and grabbed the mass of wire.  The design was rough, amatuerish, but there was an odd genius to it.  Kurisu could already see where the magnetic couplings should go and what kind of software would be necessary.</p><p>She could feel Okabe watching her out of the corner of his eyes.  But for the moment, she couldn’t care.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The moment passed, however.  True, it did not pass until several hours later, when she and Okabe were exiting Future Gadget Laboratories after a breathtaking day of the most mind-bendingly-inspirational work sessions she’d ever had, but still it passed.</p><p>“You will have to come back tomorrow to help us with the interpretive...”  Okabe was saying.</p><p>“I’m not coming back tomorrow.”  She answered wearily, brushing her hair back.  The night air felt nice and cool after the oppressive heat of the laboratory.  “I told you.  I have a plane leaving tomorrow, and I need to be on it.”  She turned to him and gave what she hoped was a polite smile.  “I’m glad to have met you, Okabe Rintarou, and I’m glad I had the chance to thank you for saving my life.  But now I have to get back to that life.”</p><p>Something flashed across Okabe’s face, but he suppressed it.  “A-ha, you say that now, Assistant, but  I know the truth!  The Stein’s::Gate choice will not allow you to leave!”</p><p>“You know I could get you arrested for saying something like that.”  It was probably a lie, Kurisu had no idea what she could and couldn’t do, but it seemed to work, for the strange look flashed across his face again, longer and more plain.  It wasn’t anger, it was more like... regret?  longing?</p><p>“I’m leaving.”  She repeated.  “Again, thank you for saving my life...”  She gave a little bow (but only a little one), “...and thank you for showing me your laboratory.  It was good to be here aga--  it was nice to meet all of you.  And you gave me some great ideas.  I’ll...”  Personal integrity squashed professional insecurities.  “...I’ll co-credit your laboratory when I release the memory reader.”</p><p>“A terrible name.”  Okabe shook his head mournfully.  “What was wrong with the Perseus Mantle of the Inner Eye?”</p><p>Kurisu fought back the giggle that was threatening to rise.  (Giggle?  What the hell was she, a schoolgirl?)  “I’ll consider it.”  She assured him, turning to leave.  “Sayonara, Okabe Rintarou.”</p><p>“Kurisu, wait...!”  A hand grabbed her shoulder...</p><p>
  <em>...staring pale eyes framed in black spikes how are you here why aren’t you dead...</em>
</p><p>Kurisu was back.  And she was staring at Okabe’s face, and finally she recognized the look he was sending her, the look that had been flashing across his face.  Fear. Stark fear.</p><p>But that wasn’t all she recognized.  She recognized the face, the face she’d just seen, the impression that had flashed through her head when he touched her shoulder.</p><p>Several things fell into place at once.  His questions, his odd knowledge, the way he’d been watching her all day.</p><p>“Explain.”  She managed to grind out.</p><p>He blinked at her.  “Christina, I...”</p><p>“Stop it!”  She nearly screamed.  “Stop...”  Kurisu took a deep breath and composed herself.  “Stop.”  she said, more softly.  “Stop calling me names that I know but have never heard.  Stop introducing me to familiar faces I’ve never met.  Stop doing... whatever it is you’re doing and just  TELL me what is GOING ON!”</p><p>The fear in his face grew.  Kurisu realized, with a strange thrill that this man, for all his pretentiousness and bluster, was actually very vulnerable.</p><p>And then he blinked, and it was past.  “Well, after all, you believed it before.”  He muttered to himself.</p><p>And so he explained.  He explained her murder, Mayushii’s murder, Moeka’s murdering.  He explained time vortexes and memory readers and lines of destiny.  He explained another world, another time, another future.</p><p>And when he was done, Kurisu found herself backing away, into the darkness of the street.  “I... I... have to go.”  She swallowed, and fled.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Gonna take this opportunity  to promote my YA Paranormal story The Nephilim Protocol, out September 4th.</p><p>"Far, far out from the coast of Alaska, at the very end of the world, tiny Attu Island crops out of the ocean, surrounded by hundreds of miles of freezing water. This is where the UN imprisons Nephilim, half-angel hybrids of stupendous power who once ruled the earth. Chad has just arrived, pulled from his high school after a near-mass-shooting brought his powers to light. But a strange disease is killing off the prisoners, and Chad and his friends must find a way to escape."</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Compulsive Revisitation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Kurisu waited at the hotel desk, her eyes heavy with the morning, two suitcases at her side.  At length a bleary-eyed attendant came shuffling out of the breakroom and solemnly took her key.  With a half-hearted nod, Kurisu turned from the desk, picked up her bags, and stumbled out of the hotel.</p><p>               The sight of a lanky, dark-haired figure in a white coat immediately jolted her into wakefulness.  Okabe Rintarou, the madman from the night before, was slumped against the wall of the bus stop.</p><p>               She considered running, but she had a flight to catch and the nearest bus stop was a good half-mile away.  So she marched up to the bus stop and glared at the man.  “Did you follow me back to the motel, you hentai!?”  She fumed.</p><p>               Okabe’s red-rimmed eyes blinked slowly at her.  “No need.”  He stretched and yawned.  “This is where you stayed last time.”</p><p>               “Last... right.  Time machine.”  Kurisu snorted.  “Come on, seriously now, how did you find it?  What are you even doing here?”</p><p>               Okabe shrugged as he straightened up.  “I couldn’t sleep.”  He admitted.  “So I ran down here and I... just...”  He shrugged helplessly.</p><p>               Kurisu sighed.  “Whatever.  Move over, there’s no room on the bench.”</p><p>               Okabe slid obligingly over and Kurisu seated herself defiantly next to him, pulling her two suitcases next to her and staring straight ahead with a furious energy.</p><p>               For a short bit, there was an awkward morning silence.</p><p>               “So your flight leaves at 7?”</p><p>               “That is seriously creepy.  What is that, more of your time-travel bullshit?”</p><p>               Okabe blinked at her.  “No, I looked up what flights were leaving for the US today.”</p><p>               “Oh.”  That made her feel a little stupid.  “Wait, so you don’t know this from your time travel?”</p><p>               “No.”  Okabe shook his head.  “You never really left in any of the timelines.  Well, you did in one, but that would have been several weeks ago.”</p><p>               “Sure.”  But Kurisu’s heart gave a great throb.  It was probably just a coincidence, but her original flight had been slated to leave about two weeks ago.</p><p>               Okabe was staring at her in a half-awake, abstract fashion.  “You look like you didn’t get much sleep either.”  He noted.</p><p>               “I... had a lot of packing to do.”  Kurisu answered.</p><p>               “Two suitcases?  I’ve seen Daru pack more for a trip to convencon.”</p><p>               “The rest is being mailed.  That’s cheaper than paying for a flight luggage fee.”</p><p>               That seemed to stop Okabe for a bit, but then a grin flickered across his face.  “Liar.  You only had the two suitcases last time.  These are all you ever packed.”</p><p>               “I travel light, okay?”  Kurisu snapped at him as the bus pulled up.  “There’s not much a girl like me actually needs.”  She shouldered her bags and moved toward the bus.  “Goodbye.”  Without looking back, she climbed on the bus, handed her fare to the driver, and plopped down in a seat.  Sighing, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes...</p><p>               “You were up all night thinking about time travel, weren’t you?”</p><p>               “YOU!”  Kurisu’s eyes shot open and she glared at Okabe, seated calmly just across the aisle from her.  “Why are you following me?”</p><p>               “Admit it.  You know it’s true.  You weren’t so much trying to think about how it might be possible so much as reasons for why it couldn’t be possible.”</p><p>               “Because there are so many more of those.”  Kurisu snapped.</p><p>               “Yeah, but they don’t bother you.  If you honestly thought it was crazy, you’d just have dismissed it as the ravings of a madman.”  Okabe leaned back on the seat as the bus started to move.</p><p>               “I...”  Checking herself, Kurisu folded her arms and looked out the window.  She refused to even engage with this fool.</p><p>               “Kurisu.”</p><p>               Staring.</p><p>               “Kurisu, c’mon.”</p><p>               Out.</p><p>               “Kurisu, please.”</p><p>               The.</p><p>               “Kurisu, just talk to me.  Say anything.”</p><p>               Window.</p><p>               A groan, and a thump.  “Why...”  she heard him moan.  “Why would... this has to be the Stein’s Gate choice... but why...”</p><p>               Again she nearly turned, if only to attack his ridiculously deterministic views on life and fate, but she stopped and resumed her staring.  <em>Never argue with idiots.</em>  She told herself firmly.  <em>They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.  </em>It was a mantra that had served her to great purpose for years in 4channeller boards.</p><p>               A sigh hissed into her ear and she jumped, whirling around.  Okabe had slid into the seat next to her, completely defeating her internet-based argument tactic.  But oddly, he didn’t say anything, he just stared at the floor morosely.  “Why?”  He asked finally, his eyes flitting up to her.  “Why are you being like this?  Every other timeline, every other occasion, I always turned to you for help, explained what was going on with the alternate histories, explained what had happened to me.  You always believed me.  You were always my guiding hand, telling me what to do.”  His head lifted a bit more and he stared directly into her eyes.  “But now you’re running from me and I... I’m lost and I...”  He swallowed.  “Why can’t you just trust me?”</p><p>               Kurisu, looking deep into the man’s troubled eyes, swallowed.  She fought back an instinctive desire to embrace this man, embrace his insanity, trust in his impossibilities... but no!  This was crazy, this was stupid, there was no way...  Kurisu tore her eyes away, unable to bear the pain in those eyes anymore.  “I’m sorry.”  She said, struggling to keep her voice under control.  “But I... I barely... I don’t even know you, really. I mean, you saved my life...”</p><p>               “We knew each other.  We saved each other.  We loved each other.”  The man insisted.</p><p>               “No!  None of that happened!”</p><p>               “You remember, you must remember.”  Okabe’s eyes studied her.  “You even said you did, in the other timelines.  You said you had hazy dreams of Mayushi dying, of making the time machine.  They’re like memories of dreams, rushing on you at unplanned moments.  Think, Kurisu, you must remember!”  He pleaded.  “Don’t ignore the facts!”</p><p>               “I’m not, I just...”  Kurisu shifted uncomfortably in her seat and took a grip on the taser in her jacket.  Ridiculous.  Ridiculous!  Knowing about the strange memories proved nothing.</p><p>               She took a deep breath.   “Look.”  She said, turning back to him.  “I’m sorry you have this... strange... delusion about me.”  Okabe’s face tore at her heart, but she continued resolutely on.  “But... you have to move on, and so do I.  I have a life in America to get back to... you have a life here that you should be attending to.”</p><p>               Okabe just stared at her, his face too broken for words.</p><p>               “I’m sorry.”  Her voice trembled a little and she sought to regain control of it.  “Per-perhaps... if there’d been more time... if we’d gotten to know each other better...”  She coughed and shook her head.  “But I can’t put off going back any longer.  Not for someone I’ve barely known for a day.”  She tried a smile.  “It... just wasn’t meant to be, Okabe.  We’re meant to live separate lives.”</p><p>               Okabe looked down.  He looked away.  He leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a great shuddering sigh.  “Yes.”  He finally admitted.  “Yes, perhaps you’re right.  Perhaps it could never have worked.  Not in any timeline.  Perhaps that is just the way of the world.”  Another deep sigh, less shudder.  “Stein’s Choice is cruel, to dangle you before me like this, make me think...”  He shook his head.  “...but it is what it is.”</p><p>               “...I’m glad you agree.”  Kurisu said, trying to believe it.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>               “Well, this is where we part ways.”  Kurisu smiled.  She and Okabe were standing at the station, her bag in her hand.</p><p>               “Right.”  Okabe looked subdued.  He hadn’t mentioned Stein’s Choice or the Organization or anything for the entire rest of the ride.  He was simply standing there now, his hands shoved in his pockets, his long white lab coat trailing behind him.</p><p>               It hurt just to look at him.</p><p>               “Thanks again for... saving my life.”  Kurisu said, searching for some sort of statement to break the awkwardness.</p><p>               “You’re welcome.”  His head lifted, and he looked at her.  “Perhaps... would you kiss me goodbye?”</p><p>               “What!?”  The blood rushed to Kurisu’s face and she recoiled.  “How... why would you... hentai... that is...”</p><p>               “A goodbye kiss.”  He pleaded.  “Nothing more.  Just so that you will remember me.”  The ghost of a smile quirked his mouth.  “Strongly emotional memories stored in the short-term section of the hippocampus are very hard to forget. “</p><p>Kurisu blinked at him.  “That’s... correct, actually.  I’m surprised you know that.”  She coughed.  “F-fine then.  But... but just a kiss.  Nothing more.” </p><p>               Okabe smiled as if remembering something.</p><p>               Taking a deep breath, Kurisu stepped forward, up closer to the tall, lanky man.  He made no move, save to lean in and slightly dip his head.  She supposed she would have to do it all herself.  Even with his head dipped, he was still amazingly tall... she’d have to stand on tiptoe and.... why oh why had she agreed to this in the first place?</p><p>               Growling at her own hesitancy (it was just a kiss, there was no need to freak out about it, half of her friends did it all the time) Kurisu grabbed the lapels of the man’s coat, dragging him down to a more kiss-able level. </p><p>Again he smiled and then, strangely, closed his eyes. </p><p>For a moment Kurisu wondered if she should feel insulted, but in reality she felt more relieved.  It felt so weird to be doing this... in public... with this man she... oh for goodness sake it was just a kiss!  With another rush of self-irritation, Kurisu dragged the man down as she pushed up on her toes to kiss him.</p><p>
  <em>...itwas the only way the only way warmskinsoftscentoftearsfeelingbreathfingers ghosting through her hair cupping the backof herskull...</em>
</p><p>...there<em> was </em>a hand cupping the back of her skull, Kurisu realized, as she tried to recoil from the memory.  Okabe’s hand had threaded through her hair and was pressing her in so that <em>onemorekiss...</em></p><p>
  <em>...mustsave Mayurii from the half-rememberedtragedy  only solution to abnegateoneself cease to exist replaced with the murdered girl in the hallway...</em>
</p><p>The wind blew around them, it carried the scent of the station on the breeze...</p><p>
  <em>...leave now never to see again not really death justanothersort of existence interesting theory littlecopter in hand wood brushes against palm suddenfloodingofrealizationloveloveloveLOVE...</em>
</p><p>               Kurisu was pressing forward now, kissing Okabe almost hungrily.</p><p>
  <em>               ...notdoingthisbecauseIwant to memories stored in the short term section of the hippocampus with strong emotional ties are very hard to forget, I figure you’re a hentai who’ll rehearse this scene over and over again making it a long-term memory...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>               ...sorry to disappoint you, but that wasn’t my first kiss...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>               ...if only this moment could last forever...</em>
</p><p>               But it was already over.  Kurisu found the lips fading away from her and she was left to stare, red-faced, at a tenderly-smiling Okabe.  “You realize that you could have just kissed me on the cheek.”  He noted.  “But I understand that you want your first kiss to be memorable.”</p><p>               “That... that wasn’t... my first...”  Kurisu’s fingers touched her lips.  No, it hadn’t been. </p><p>She remembered her first.</p><p>               “No?”  Okabe’s face fell.  “Oh, well, then you might not remember after all.”</p><p>               The vestiges of a half-forgotten answer, like something out of a dream, came to Kurisu and she smiled.  “No.”  She answered, looking up at him.  “I think that might have left a weak impression.  It might not become a long-term memory.”</p><p>               Dawning hope, joy lighting up Okabe’s face.</p><p>               “So.”  Kurisu pulled him down.  “Once more.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>There!  Done with it!  Sorry it took me a while, I had these chapters posted up, it just took me a while to get around to them.  </p><p>I'm posting this material now to promo my contemporary fantasy novel, The Nephilim Protocol, out Sept 7th! </p><p>"Far, far out from the coast of Alaska, at the very end of the world, tiny Attu Island crops out of the ocean, surrounded by hundreds of miles of freezing water. This is where the UN imprisons Nephilim, half-angel hybrids of stupendous power who once ruled the earth. Chad has just arrived, pulled from his high school after a near-mass-shooting brought his powers to light. But a strange disease is killing off the prisoners, and Chad and his friends must find a way to escape."</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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